Hello again, I have another ? 4 U. If you are running at night and your sails are down, do you need the steaming light? If you are not sailing, wouldn't you be the same as a power boat? I'm asking cause I am getting alot of different answers. Thanks.

(snippage)
I have forgotten what lights are needed when you are drifting (no sail, no power).

Short answer is if you're not anchored, and not disabled (Vessel not under command), you are considered to be Under Way, and the lighting requirements are only changed by whether you're under power or not.

Okay, this is a test:
Sails are down, you are drifting with the wind and current, the autopilot is engaged, the engine is running, the transmission is in neutral, it is nighttime, youre having dinner in the cockpit with cockpit lights on. What navigation lights do you show?

My theory on this is, I don't so much care at night if other vessels can tell whether I'm under power or sail... I just want them to see me. So whether sailing or motoring, at night I use every exterior light I've got. It's funny how deck mounted running lights can blend nicely into the shore lights in the background, but the masthead steaming light stands out like a beacon against a dark sky, appearing above the background lights. I'm aware it's not technically correct, but sometimes common sense is called for over the books - especially in reduced visibility, light yourself up as much as you can. Only negative I can see is another vessel not knowing that you, under sail, have right of way... but I don't care about that at night. I'd rather just give myself the extra visibility, and have us both alter course instead of marking myself as the stand on vessel.

By choosing to post the reply above you agree to the rules you agreed to when joining Sailnet.
Click Here to view those rules.

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the SailNet Community forums, you must first register. Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.Please note: After entering 3 characters a list of Usernames already in use will appear and the list will disappear once a valid Username is entered.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

Log-in

User Name

Remember Me?

Password

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.